The best-kept secret tree house in Whistler

Joel Allen is a 31-year-old carpenter from Salmon Arm, B.C. Before he started swinging a hammer for a living he was a software developer, an occupation that expired when the money behind the Internet startup he was working for ran out

Joel Allen is a 31-year-old carpenter from Salmon Arm, B.C. Before he started swinging a hammer for a living he was a software developer, an occupation that expired when the money behind the Internet startup he was working for ran out. His next job, at 26, was retirement, a gig he soon discovered didn’t pay the bills and motivated him to put on a tool belt and learn a trade.

It was the best move of his life, he says, and it led him — on his own time — to the middle of the woods in Whistler, B.C., where he has built a tree house for the ages: a spectacular egg-shaped orb whose precise location, on Crown land, is top secret unless you are among the lucky few to find it.

Mr. Allen spoke to National Post reporter Joe O’Connor about bears, barn hopping and the unadulterated beauty of life in the trees.

Q: Are you in the tree house now?A: I am not in the tree house. I am actually calling you from Alberta. We are building a greenhouse for some relatives. There might be someone in the tree house, though, but it doesn’t have a phone, so I’m not sure how you could check.

Q: Why a tree house, of all houses?A: I was sleeping in different locations — sport sleeping — when I had the idea for it.

Q: Sport sleeping?A: Yes. I did something called barn hopping in Slovenia, where I tried to sleep in different barns all over the countryside and then I would leave the farmer a bottle of Schnapps when I left. And I really liked the idea of sleeping at the top of water towers and on a genie [hydraulic construction] lift. I loved the thrill of sleeping in different places. I don’t exactly know how I arrived at the tree house. I’d always fantasized about tree houses, I guess.

Q: Where were you living when you built it?A: In my Ford Escort hatchback, and I thought a tree house definitely wouldn’t be a downgrade.

Q: That’s funny. My first car was a 1990 red Ford Escort hatchback.A: It is not a roomy car.

Q: It is not. Whistler is full of trees. How did you find the right one?A: Most of it came down to gut feeling. The huge challenge was that people in Whistler are always wandering through the woods. I would find these prime locations and then I would go 50 metres one way or the other and there would be a bike trial in the middle of nowhere. I searched for two months, every day after work, and almost became dispirited.

Q: How much did it cost to build?A: I spent $6,500 framing it. That was the first leg. To do all the really expensive stuff — the doors, windows and walls — I scoured Craigslist. I got scrap wood for free. I was compulsive about it.

Q: When was the last time you were there?A: Last week. I was doing some maintenance and meeting some of the people who have started finding it. I lived there last summer, but I didn’t build it to live in it, per se. I built if for everybody who can find it. And I actually freaked out and had a near meltdown when people started to. I guess I felt kind of vulnerable, and I nearly lost it and dismantled the tree house but then my fiancée kind of…

Q: Talked you down off the ledge?A: Exactly. I remember being on the deck when two people found it. It is hard to explain what happens when people see it. It is the presence of the place, I think. It is breathtaking.

Q: What’s inside?A: A desk, a chair, a guest book and enough room on the deck to sit down.

Q: How many people have signed the guest book?A: Six. One guy who said he had visited said when he stuck his head out of the hatch it made him feel like a kid again.

Q: What are the neighbours like?A: Multi-multi-ka-billionaires. I’m not sure we’d mix well.

Q: And the view?A: A lot of branches. That was on purpose so it couldn’t be spotted from the air. There are mossy, rocky outcrops and you are looking at the other trees — 50 feet up. It’s the unadulterated beauty of being in the forest. There are a lot of bears. When we lived there last summer there was a bear that would wander by each morning.

Q: Did you have a tree house as a kid?A: My dad built us one. It wasn’t an egg shape. It was basically a deck with railings. The funny thing is we didn’t spend much time in it. But I think it maybe seeded something.

Q: What’s you dream now, since you’ve crossed building a tree house in Whistler off the list?A: What was manifested in the tree house: having a place on a beautiful plot of land is my dream. Except that maybe I actually own the plot of land, so I don’t have to live in fear for the rest of my life. I am also really tempted to try another tree house because I could do something much more stunning, either that or a completely new structure, maybe something mobile.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.